State of emergency should be renewed – Portugal’s president

The president of Portugal said on Tuesday that if parliament authorises him, a state of emergency should be renewed under the same terms as the presidential decree in force with the same general set of government measures.

“This afternoon and tomorrow [Wednesday] I will listen to the parties, but it seems to me that it is only logical, given the measures taken last Friday, that this renewal of the state of emergency is basically an extension of the previous renewal, integrating the measures that have been taken,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told journalists.

De Sousa, who was speaking at the end of a visit to the Armed Forces Hospital in Lisbon, added: “In general, it is expected that there will be renewal, but it depends on the final authorisation from parliament, in the terms in which they are in force, both in the presidential decree and in the general set of measures, including those just taken by the government. This is what should logically happen.”

During this visit, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was accompanied by the prime minister, António Costa, and the health minister, Marta Temido, but only the president answered questions from journalists.

Asked if the educational establishments will continue to be closed, he said that “it will take some time” to “conclude the effects” of this and other measures, pointing out that “the decision regarding schools was taken at the end of the previous week, published the diploma on Friday morning and came into force on Friday itself”.

Asked when the next extended meeting with experts on the situation of covid-19, at Infarmed, in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that “in principle, a date has already been set” and said that it makes sense that it should only take place “when the data available allow an assessment not only of the measures relating to schools but other measures, in the framework of a confinement that the Portuguese want to take seriously”.

According to the constitution, it is up to the president to decree a state of emergency. Still, to do so, he must listen to the government and have the Portuguese parliament’s authorisation.

The current state of emergency to allow measures to Contain covid-19 ends at 23:59 next Saturday, 30 January and was approved in parliament.

According to the health authority (DGS), 11,012 patients with Covid-19 have died in Portugal, and more than 653,000 cases of infection have been reported so far, according to the health authority (DGS).

Today a new maximum of 291 deaths in 24 hours have been reported.